Nina Ananiashvili

Nina Ananiashvili
Ananiashvili performing in T'bilisi
Born	ნინო ანანიაშვილი Nino Ananiashvili (1963-03-19) March 19, 1963 (age 54) Tbilisi, GSSR
Occupation	Ballet dancer
Years active	1981-present
Current group	State Ballet of Georgia
Former groups	Bolshoi Ballet American Ballet Theatre Houston Ballet
Dances	T'bilisi, Georgia

Nina Ananiashvili (born: Nino Ananiashvili, Georgian: ნინო ანანიაშვილი; born March 28, 1963) is a Georgian ballerina and artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia. She has been described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the twelve greatest ballerinas of all time, and in 2002 was named Best Ballerina of the Year by the US Dance Magazine. Ananiashvili has been a prominent fixture of the Soviet, Russian and Georgian ballet scene for decades. Shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain, in 1987 the New York Magazine critic praised Nina Ananiashvili as "the best thing about the Bolshoi's Giselle whether she appeared in the title role or as the queen of the wilis." In 2014, a film of her 1991 performance in Giselle with the Bolshoi ballet was released.

Nina Gedevanovna Ananiashvili' was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR. Her father, Gedevan, and two older brothers, George and Levan, were all geologists; her mother, Lia Gogolashvili, a philologist. She was a sickly child and at the age of 4, her parents started her ice skating in an effort to improve her health. At 10, she became champion in her age group in Georgia.

A dance teacher saw how she moved on the ice – in particular her balance and how she used her arms – and had her perform The Dying Swan on skates. Then the teacher took Nina to a theatre and showed her the feathered costume she could wear if she performed it on stage, just like Maya Plisetskaya, the Bolshoi prima ballerina.

In 1969, Ananiashvili entered the Georgia State Choreographic Institute. Tamara Vykhodtseva was her first teacher there. The great Vakhtang Chabukiani also took little Nina under his wing. Her progress was so impressive that it drew the attention of teachers from the Moscow Choreographic Institute, who convinced her parents to allow Nina to continue her studies there. In 1976 she entered the Moscow Choreographic Institute where her main teacher was Natalia Zolotova. In 1980, she made her stage debut in a school production of Copula.She graduated and entered the Bolshoi Theater in 1981.